How mental wellbeing champions can drive positive change
Having mental health champions creates a visible signal that your organization takes mental wellbeing seriously.
Challenges to mental wellbeing abound.
As a recent McKinsey webinar pointed out, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy that affects not only the global economy but also the global psyche.” The loss, isolation, economic difficulties, and traumatic stress caused by the coronavirus have impacted significantly on mental health and wellbeing.
Challenges to wellbeing can not only drive down productivity and worsen the employee experience, but can also impact your organization’s culture. But regardless of the effect it has on an organization, the issue is this: When another person is in distress, it’s important to help them.
There are many tools and strategies companies can use to address mental wellbeing. Although no single effort can do it all alone, one of the most important strides you can take is to train and empower mental wellbeing champions.
Sometimes known as mental health or wellness champions, these are the employees who are positive role models and helpful resources for people who want to know more or need help.
Related: 5 ways to support employee mental health
They are also visible signals that your organization takes mental wellbeing seriously. Here are three examples of how mental health champions are changing the way that workplaces around the world are addressing mental wellbeing.
1. Be there for others
Scott Sutherland works at the John Lewis Partnership, a British company that owns department and grocery stores. It’s the U.K.’s largest employee-owned business, with a workforce of more than 80,000 partners. Sutherland is one of the company’s mental wellbeing champions. That means he takes calls from his coworkers who might be in distress. He supports his fellow partners by sharing insight and pointing them to an expert when that kind of help is needed. But one of the most important things a mental wellbeing champion can do is simply listen.
Often people simply need a sympathetic, non-judgmental ear — Sutherland is there for them. Sutherland also has a vlog in which he talks about mental health and wellbeing (and also shows off his dog, Floss).
2. Point the way to more help
Sometimes a colleague has challenges that a champion isn’t equipped to address. Mental health champions are not trained professionals. That means many issues will be too complex for them to resolve. That’s OK.
That’s why it’s important for them to know how to signpost — pointing the way to professional help or other resources. Sometimes people benefit from working with a therapist, but they could also read up on the subject, take up a mindfulness practice, or join a discussion group. Mental wellbeing champions can show employees where to go and share their own experiences with seeking help.
A champion can help destigmatize the act of asking for help — a goal that can require a cultural shift at some organizations.
3. Spread sunshine throughout the organization
A mental wellbeing champion can do more than just drive individual change. They can contribute toward change in an organization’s culture by building a sense of community — a task all the more important in an era of dispersed workforces.
Sherena Masharani, a process manager at Centrica, a U.K. gas and electric company, sends a daily “moment of sunshine” email of fun facts, recipes, trivia, and celebrations — as well as mental health information and resources. Masharani’s “moments” are so popular that even her CEO signed up for them! More recently, she’s branched out to deliver her messages via an internal podcast.
With these lighthearted efforts, mental wellbeing champions are promoting a culture that shows their organizations take mental wellbeing seriously. These efforts can pay off. As one study of mental wellbeing champions concluded, “The combination of training, support tools, and development events helped destigmatize mental health and change the corporate culture of some organizations.”
Mental wellbeing champions can drive change
Mental wellbeing champions can drive positive change at the individual and cultural levels and at companies big and small. By supporting employees who need information or help, pointing the way to professional resources, and driving cultural change, they can improve the mental wellbeing of their peers.
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